Check-protector



(No Mode1 Wl HI PITT gv G, SITTMANN.

CHECK rRoTBcToR.

Patented Feb. 19, 41895.

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irren STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER H. PITT AND GUSTAV SITTMANN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

CH EC K-PROTECTO R.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 534,404, dated February 19, 1895. Application filed September 8, 1893- Serial No. 485,105. (N model.) l

To aZZ whom may concern.-

Be it known that we, WALTER H. PITT and GUSTAV SITTMANN, citizens of the United States, residing in Brooklyn, Kings county, State of New York, have invented new and useful VImprovements in Check-Protectors, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates especially to devices employed for marking checks, etc., with figures and symbols by cutting, punching, or otherwise removing a portion of the body of material, for the purpose of rendering alteration of the original amount called for, impossible; and has for its object the provision of a sim ple, cheap, and eective device for this purpose.

To attain the desired end, our invention consists in certain novel and useful combinations or arrangements of parts, and peculiarities of construction and operation, all of which will be hereinafter first fully described, and then pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of our improved check protector. Fig. 2 is a front elevation. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the operating mechanism, a portion of the Ainclosing shell being removed. Fig. 4 is a vertical, sectional view, at line @c-- of Fig. 1.

Similar numerals of reference, wherever they occur, indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

1 is the outer shell or case, made of any approved material, and 2 is the bottom, secu red to the shell by screws, as at 3. Fixed in the base 2 is a vertical post or standard, 4, bearing, pivoted to its upper extremity, an operating lever, 5. This lever 5 is made camshaped at 6, and has a guidinglip, 7. At the front of the frame 1, is xed a divided guide, S, into which the lip 7, of the lever 5 enters when the device is operated.

Projecting horizontally at the front of the case 1, is a pin, 9, over an opening in the check-supporting table, forming a portion of the shell, 1. This pin,9 bears a plate 11, provided with a thumb-piece, 12, and downwardly projecting, perforated ears, 13, upon the sides of' the plate opposite to the thumbpiece. Mountedin the perforations in the ears 13, is a shaft, 14, bearing a roller 15, designed to hold the checkin contact with a feed roller, to be hereinafter described. This roller 14 is normally forced downward by a spring, 16, coiled around the pin 9.

17 is a top plate, having numbers and symbols, 18, thereon, and bearing a flange, 19, cut away opposite te each ligure or symbol, for the reception of the guide lip 7, upon'the operating lever, 5. The topplate 17 is provided with a hub, 20, perforated for the `passage of the standard 4, said hub being screwthreaded for the reception of a nut, 2l. 22 is a washer located below said nut, and 23 is a spring which bears against said washer, and the base plate 2, for the purpose of normally throwing the plate 17, and all the parts connected therewith, upward. Above the plate 17, is a hub, 24, which bears against the cam, 6, of the operating lever 5. Secured beneath the plate 17,

is a ring or plate, 25, bearing punch pins, 26,. Aforming male punches, arranged to form iigures or symbols corresponding to those upon the top plate, 17, and directly beneath the same.

27 is a stripping plate, having openings 28 therein, for the passage of each set of punch pins, said stripping plate being secured to the hub 20, and having its rim turned upward, as at 29, for facilitating the introduction of the check to be operated upon. Below the stripping plate 27,is fixed apunch plate, or female die plate, 30, having perforations 3l therein, corresponding to the punches 26 forming the figures. These perforations 3l, are slightly larger than the pins, which do not fit accurately therein, and therefore expensive, careful adjustment is not necessary. The plate 30 is quite flexible, and consequently the paper of the check willv not be broken by'any of the punches other than the particular set it is desired to bring into operation for the reason that that particular set only is over the anvil, and the space beneath the other sets is open,giving no support to the plate 30 which will be depressed by the punches coming in contact with the paper, there not beingsufflcient resistance beneath it to cause the punches to penetrate it and said female die plate is so flexible, that without the yielding anvil xed there beneath, the punches would not sever the paper it is desired to remove.

Plate 30, has a downwardly projecting edge,

32, corresponding to 29 onthe plate 27.

33 is a standard, mounted upon the base 2, having a horizontal iinger, 34, projecting be- :neath the punch plate, and bearing a yielding anvil, 35, made of rubber, or equivalent material.

36 is a standard, projecting upward from the plate 2, near the center thereof.

`37 is a shaft, journaled in the standards 33 and 36, and bearing upon its outer extremity a feed roller, or drum, 3S, located beneath the roller l5. The inner face of the drum 3S is provided with ratchet teeth, 39.

Pivoted upon a standard 40, projecting from the plate 2, is an arm,v4l perforated at 42 for the passage of an operating n ger, 43, projecting from the Washer 22 upon the standard 4. The outer extremity of the arm 41 bears a pawl 43:, held in'engagement with the ratchet teeth 39 upon the drum 38, by a spring, 44. Fixed in the standard 33 is a pin 45, against which the pawl 43* strikes, in case the feed drum should be inclined toiturn more than one notch when given a sudden movement. 46 is a holding bolt, arranged to play in perforations in the standards 33 and 36, the nose of said bolt entering the ratchet 39, conforming to the shape of the ratchet teeth, and being forced therein by a spring 47.

When constructed and arranged in accordance with the foregoing description, the operation of our improved check protector is as follows: The thumb-piece 12 is depressed, raising the roller l5, and the check to be operated upon is placed between the plates 27 and 30. The top plate 17 is now turned by the hand until the figure or symbol it is desired to cut in the paper is opposite the opening in the guide S. The lever 5 is now depressed, and this movement will force the punch es through the paper, and punch plate 30,down onto the yielding anvil, 35. This yielding anvil serves a twofold purpose. It holds up the punch plate 30 with sufticient force to cause the punches to penetrate the paper, and depress the face of the anvil to cause a complete separation of the pieces punched out from the body of the check, although said punches do not fit the holes in the punch plate accurately, and said yielding anvil also serves to strip the removed particles of paper from the body of the check, leaving the perforations clear therethrough. As the hub 20, and connected parts descend, the arm 4l will be forced downward, dropping the pawl 43* one notch, and when thc lever 5 is released, the said arm and pawl will be thrown upward, by the movement of the parts raised by the spring 23, and the check will be fed forward a sufficient distance to present a new surface for the operation of the punches. As the drum 3S turns,

through the medium of these movements, the holding bolt 46 will be forced inward by the movement of the ratchet teeth, and Will pass to the next notch.

The action of the entire device is clean and accurate, and the moving parts instantly respond to the operatinglever 5, While by reason of the fixed guide 8, and theguides formed by the notched Iiange 19, adjustment to the proper spacing and position is insured.

Having now fully described our invention, what we claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a check protector, a male punch, a female die, and a yielding anvil, combined and arranged, substantially as shown and de scribed.

2. In a check protector, a male punch, a stripping plate, a female die, and a yielding anvil, combined and arranged, substantially as shown and described.

` In a check protector, a rotatable hub, mounted upon a vertical standard, said hub bearing an indicating plate, a male punch plate, a stripping plate, and a female die plate, in combination with means for depressing the hub, and the parts secured thereto, and a yielding anvil against which the punches are arranged to strike, substantially as shown and described.

4. In a check protector ot' the character herein specified, the combination with the punching mechanism consisting of a male punch, a stripping plate, a female die plate and an index plate all connected together, and arranged to move in unison, of a lever arm pivoted upon the main frame at one extremity, connected near its center with the depressible punching mechanism, and bearing a pawl directly upon its outer extremity; a feeding drum provided with ratchet teeth which said paWl enters; a stop pin to limit the throw of the pawl; a holding roller above the feeding drum, and an actuating spring beneath the punching mechanism, the whole arranged to operate, substantially as shown and described.

5. In a check protector, the combination with a rotatable, depressible plate, carrying the punching mechanism, and having indicating signs upon vthe face of said plate, a guide flange upon said plate, a guide piece upon the shell surrounding said plate, and a depressing lever, adapted and arranged to enter said guides, substantially as shown and described.

G. The combination with the depressible punching mechanism mounted upon a verticalstandard,of the springbeneath said punching mechanism, the lever pivoted in the top of the standard, and provided with a cam-face arranged to corne in contact with the hub bearing the punching mechanism, and the guides for the depressing lever located upon the rotatable top plate, and the fixed guide at the side of said plate, substantially as shown and described.

, WALTER l-I. PITT.

GUSTAV SITTMANN. Witnesses:

A. M. PIERCE, LILLIAN B. HUBBARD.

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